This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Various passive and active automotive occupant restraint systems are known for enhancing occupant protection in the event of a vehicle impact. Passive systems are deployed with no action required by the occupant and include inflatable restraints or airbags for frontal and side impacts, for example. Automatically deployed seat belt systems are known. Active systems, such as seat belts, have been used for many decades and are manually deployed by the occupant.
Conventional seat belt systems use three points of connection with the vehicle structure and incorporate a lap belt portion for engaging the occupant's lower torso and a shoulder belt portion for engaging the occupant's upper torso. When used, the seat belt restrains movement of the occupant in the event of a vehicle impact or rollover event. In order to enhance the comfort and convenience provided by the seat belt system, retractors are used which permit belt webbing to be extracted from and retracted into the retractor, allowing movement of the occupant while maintaining the belt in close contact with the occupant.
A more recent development in the area of seat belt systems is that of the so-called inflatable seat belt. An inflatable seat belt system incorporates a section of the shoulder or lap belt section which is inflated by a gas. The shoulder or lap belt section is typically inflated by a pyrotechnic inflator to increase its size and volume. Thus, when an inflatable seat belt is deployed, the normally narrow seat belt webbing expands significantly to reduce the contact pressure between the belt and the occupant during an impact event. Inflatable seat belts are typically deployed using the crash sensing systems also used to deploy other inflatable restraint systems upon the detection of a vehicle impact or rollover event having predetermined dynamic characteristics.
Another more recent development in the area of safety restraints relates to pelvis restraint. An inflatable airbag may be disposed below a seat cushion. The airbag may be activated upon sensing predetermined dynamic characteristics of the vehicle (e.g., an actual or impending impact or rollover event. The airbag typically applies an upward directed force to the seat cushion which is opposed by a reactionary surface.
While known safety restraint systems have generally proven to be acceptable for their intended uses, a continuous need for improvement exists in the relevant art.